Dallas sports radio: Danny Balis joins ‘The Freak’ with Rhyner

DALLAS — The North Texas sports radio market could not go lengthy with out one other massive change.

Danny Balis, the previous longtime producer of “The Hardline” on KTCK’s “The Ticket”, has joined “The Freak,” the upstart talk format that includes ex-Ticket legend Mike Rhyner.

Balis is becoming a member of Rhyner’s “The Downbeat” afternoon drive program as a 3rd host, alongside Mike Sirois, an one other Ticket ex.

Michael Gruber, a former board operator at The Ticket, is producing “The Downbeat,” which debuted in early October.

Balis described “The Freak” as a “pillowy place to fall,” given his expertise working with Rhyner, Sirois and several other others on the station.

He was additionally sensible about what he was feeling Monday afternoon, when the announcement was made on air.

“I’m excited,” he mentioned. “I really feel form of nervous as a result of I have not performed this in a very long time. I have not thought this will ever occur to me once more, to be doing radio, particularly with those who I’ve identified for a really, very very long time. When you set all of it collectively, it is onerous to make sense of all of it. There’s numerous emotion round it. There’s numerous uncertainty about it. But I can say that I’m very glad. I really feel excited. I feel it may take a while to knock the rust off.

“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some pretty real emotions about coming back to a format I had left six months ago, not really thinking about this ever happening for me again.”

The newest change means 2022 will finish a lot completely different than it began for sports radio listeners in North Texas.

Here’s the laundry checklist of exits, shuffles and arrivals:

-. In the spring, Balis and Sirois left The Ticket on apparently amicable phrases, explaining their selections as an opportunity for brand spanking new alternatives and challenges.

Here’s what Balis advised Rhyner, who retired from The Ticket in 2020, on Rhyner’s podcast:

“I don’t want this to be about money. I don’t want this to be, ‘Well they didn’t pay me enough.’ It’s not necessarily about not getting paid enough. It was more about feeling undervalued, or not utilized or appreciated in a way that reflected what I had put into this thing. And it’s nobody fault. It’s not their fault they have a budget. It’s not their fault that nobody is really retiring to open up a spot for you to maybe shine a little bit more and do the things you want to do.”

– Balis’ and Sirois’ departures led to a ripple impact of staffing modifications: David Mino, the Hardline board operator, took over as producer. Matt Bermingham, the host of the nightly Ticket Top 10, changed Mino on the board. Sean Bass, who was on Ticket Ticker updates within the mornings, changed Sirois because the producer of the Norm And D Invasion. DJ Ringgenberg changed Bass on morning Tickets. 

And then, in possibly essentially the most notable transfer of all, Dave Lane, a longtime Ticket contributor, was added as a 3rd host to the Hardline, becoming a member of Corby Davidson and Bob Sturm.

– And that was only the start, not less than for the Dallas radio market as an entire. In October, news broke that Rhyner, who based The Ticket, was returning to the airwaves on 97.1-FM. The station was a rock and speak format as The Eagle. With Rhyner on board, 97.1 was rebranded to all-talk with a brand new identify: The Freak. Sirois joined Rhyner as co-host, and Julie Dobbs, one other former Ticket persona, joined the lineup as a morning drive host.